Recruiting in this day and age can change at the drop of a hat. Notre Dame certainly understands that, considering Marcus Freeman and his staff thought they were in good standing for 5-star linebacker Kaden Henderson. Then, just a few days before he was due to visit South Bend, he changed his mind and committed to Texas A&M. Because of that turn of events, when a top Irish target changed his mind about a trip to Tennessee, Freeman and his staff likely didn’t feel too bad for the Vols. That the canceled trip means they have a very good chance of landing Roman Igwebuike is just icing on the cake.
Igwebuike, a 4-star linebacker out of Mount Carmel High (Chicago, IL), is set to announce his commitment next Thursday, and it was thought that the Volunteers were among the top candidates. However, it now looks like the SEC squad is out of the running.
Igwebuike is a consensus top 200 player, ranking No. 147 in Rivals’ industry rankings, as well as the No. 13 linebacker and No. 8 player in the state of Illinois for the 2027 cycle. He holds offers from Notre Dame, Tennessee, Clemson, Indiana, Texas, Oregon, Georgia, Michigan, Florida, Ole Miss, and many others.
His five finalists are officially the Irish, Clemson, Indiana, Tennessee, and Missouri. However, it looks like it’s a one-team race at this point.
Roman Igwebuike could give Notre Dame football perfect answer after Kaden Henderson miss
Earlier this week, Igwebuike received three predictions from Rivals analysts for Notre Dame. Mike Singer was the first domino, putting his prediction in on Sunday morning. National analyst Steve Wiltfong followed a day later, and Greg Smith put his prediction in a day after Wiltfong.
The latter two mean that both national analysts, whose focus is the Golden Domers, also entered a very high confidence score of 70%. As a general rule, an “educated guess” usually comes in at 60%, and anything higher than that means there’s a very obvious lean.
Considering that Igwebuike took his official visit to Notre Dame last weekend, the pieces appear to be falling into place for Freeman and Co. Those pieces appear to be fitting together for a big win at a position of need in this recruiting cycle.
Roman Igwebuike had an incredible junior season, tallying 115 tackles, 13.5 tackles for loss, including 7 sacks, 2 interceptions, 3 forced fumbles, 1 fumble recovery, and 17 QB hurries. The stud defender helped lead Mount Carmel to a 14-0 record and the 8A state championship.
It’s also possible that since the linebacker canceled his final visit before next week’s commitment, he might copy Kaden Henderson and announce his commitment earlier than expected. It’s hard to imagine whether he waits until his own deadline or pulls the trigger sooner; at this point, it won’t be for anyone but Notre Dame.
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